Sing to Me!

Ok, I’m about to become very unpopular. As I have mentioned recently I don’t go on Facebook much anymore. A big part of that is that I have to scroll through 20 ads before I even see anything posted from someone I know, and even then, their post is 3 days old, but I digress. At any rate, I was scrolling through my feed the other night, and I came across 3 friends almost one right after the other who had posted the duet of Suddenly Seymour from Little Shop of Horrors sung by the cast in the most recent production at The Pasadena Playhouse. Now, let me start by saying that I love Little Shop. I have seen at least 4 different productions, and both of my daughters have played Audrey, and all I have to do is hear the beginning strains of Somewhere That’s Green, and I will tear up. Each production was different, and for the most part I enjoyed them all. This is not a commentary on Little Shop. This is a commentary on Musical theatre singing in general. Let me say here that this is an opinion, my opinion, because this is my blog. You may disagree with me. In fact, I’m sure the majority of you will, and that’s fine, but don’t read anything into this that is not there. I am no stranger to Musical Theatre. I have been singing since I was 3, and I did my first professional musical at the age of 10. Over the last 46 years I have been in the chorus or featured in 22 musicals, and I have seen countless others, not bad statistics for research. I do not understand the obsession over vocal power. Now here’s the part where everyone starts hating on me. I pulled up the recording of Suddenly Seymour as everyone was commenting how amazing it was. I listened. I didn’t like it. There I said it. ANNOUNCEMENT: Please do not accuse me of not liking the duet because Audrey is being played by a transgender actor! I did not even know that when I listened to the recording!!! And this opinion has nothing to do with that! What I did not like was all the belting and riffing. Now, they are not the first cast to sing the duet like that. In fact, most do try to belt their faces off. I am also not opposed to belting a song. There are certain songs that need to be belted, When You’re Good to Mama and All That Jazz from Chicago, Everything’s Coming Up Roses from Gypsy, Poor Unfortunate Souls from The Little Mermaid and lots of others. I, myself, can belt. My first high school show was Godspell, and my father said I got the role singing Turn Back, O Man because I “blew the doors off of the back of the auditorium.” People with a good belt are impressive, it’s true, but just because you can belt doesn’t mean you should on every song you sing. Riffing is a blog entry all on its own. Short and Sweet: I’m not a fan, and it’s way over used! Back when I was auditioning for Godspell in 1978, there were no body mics. We had to project and belt to be heard at the back of the theater or the top of the balcony, but today we have this cool stuff called technology and you can whisper on stage and the cheap seats can hear you because everything that’s heard by the audience is coming through a speaker. This technology has been a great help to the actor and I’m sure saved countless voices. Yes, even with body mics, there are still songs that need to be belted, but only if the song or character suits that style. No, I do not want to hear Feed Me from Little Shop in a lyric tenor voice, but so many songs now become screaming matches between the actors. We get it, you can sing loud. You have power, but let me use the Suddenly Seymour duet as an example. Audrey is broken and sad. Life has beaten her down. That song can grow in power as she realizes that Seymour gives her the respect she deserves. She can be someone with Seymour. The song can end powerfully, but power doesn’t have to come from a belt. Too many times I just feel like the actors are yelling at me, and I just want to turn it off. I have been listening to Michael Caine read his book Blow the Bloody Doors Off. He talks about when he first got into film after being a stage actor for many years and projecting so the balcony could hear him that he had to retrain himself to act for the camera. I experienced the same thing when I was shooting my one and only film, and I was so frustrated because I was used to being loud and booming, but there was no need when the camera is 6 inches from your face, and a boom mic is literally right above your head. Remember that thing called technology? By the end of the 2-week filming I began to appreciate the camera because I could embrace nuance and subtlety. That’s’ what I miss with listening to musical theatre stars of today. Where is the nuance, where are the subtle, almost breathless tones sometimes? I want to see that in singing as well as dialogue. Stop yelling at me! Sing to me. Emote the song. It can be much more powerful than just being loud. When you whisper, you draw people in. Make the song about the song, not about how loud it can be! Rant over!